Bulletproof
by llLethell
Summary: At an early morning crime scene, a rookie cop just wants to get out of talking to Javier Esposito alive. Then comes along a clearly suicidal detective, Kevin Ryan.


**Disclaimer: I happen to own 0% of Castle**

**A/N- My first Castle fic, YAY! I just got into it like this summer and I LOVE it. I can't wait until the new season starts!**

**A big thank you to Doppler Effect for beta-ing!**

**This is basically just a character study of Ryan (and Esposito) because let's face it, you can't have one without the other. Which by the way is a reference to gottabefree's Ryan-and-Espo. It's very good, I highly recommend it! **

**No Spoilers**

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Flashing lights from the parked patrol cars flooded the murder scene. Red and blue reflected in the dark morning, off the damp asphalt and against the barred windows of the houses opposite the crime scene. A single officer stood guard in front of the yellow tape, partially barring the body of a business man from view of the curious early risers. Behind the young man, the medical examiner was inspecting the corpse and conversing with a female detective, both ignoring the other law enforcement personnel going about their business. The rookie cop glanced back to get a look at the gorgeous detective only to catch the flash of a camera when the photographer snapped a photo of evidence nearby.

Travis grimaced at the bright light and turned his back again, trying to forget the sight of the mangled body illuminated by the flash. It wasn't like he was a forensic guy or used to being up close with death. No he was just on patrol and had the misfortune of finding the body. Travis ran a hand through his dark hair and casted a grumpy look to his partner, Ray, who was busy ignoring him and writing on a notepad.

"Hey, rookie!" A gruff voice demanded his attention. Travis turned to see Detective Javier Esposito stalking toward him. The rookie cop blanched at the intensity of the gaze being turned on him and rushed to lift the police tape to let the detective out of the crime scene.

"Me?" Travis asked, his voice coming out as a squeak.

"No, the other half-wit beside you," Esposito scoffed.

Travis cleared his throat nervously and glanced to Ray, only to find the man conveniently vanished. The dark haired rookie felt his palms start to sweat but turned back to the Hispanic detective despite being intimidated.

"You the one who found the body?" Esposito requested, managing to sound bored and threatening at the same time.

"Uh, yeah," Travis answered weakly.

The detective paused, taking the time to blink once. "Uh, yeah?" he repeated, "That's it? S'all you got?" Esposito leaned in, the frown on his face heavy.

Travis swallowed nervously, and wiped his palms on his thighs. Averting his eyes, and missing the twinkle in Esposito's own, Travis stuttered, "W-with my partner. Uh, Ray, he's, uh, over there. We were just- ahem- cruising by and…" The rookie struggled to keep eye contact with the detective, a task rendered difficult due to the quiet murderous vibe Travis was sensing. "And…we heard a scream, so uh-"

"What time did you hear this scream?" Esposito interrupted, jotting something down on his note pad and glancing up when Travis did not answer right away.

"4:30?"

"You don't seem so sure about that, rookie," Esposito rebuked.

Startled, Travis' brown eyes widened. "Yeah, yeah, it was 4:30. You can ask Ray."

"I'm not asking Ray, am I…? What's your name anyway? Hm?"

"T-Travis, Travis Brewer," he responded, and extended his hand without conscious thought.

Esposito glanced down at his hand and then back at Travis, tilting his head just so to make his intention clear. Swallowing anxiously, Travis retracted his greeting and glanced away uncomfortably. He then caught sight of another detective approaching them, a blue-eyed man with close cropped hair that had arrived the same time as Detective Esposito.

"Hey," he greeted, coming to stand next to Esposito, giving Travis a vague nod. "So it wasn't a mugging. Cash and credit cards are still in his wallet. And by the looks of it none of his _very_ fancy rings were taken either. I mean what-"

"Got it, not a mugging," Esposito interjected.

The other detective nodded distractedly, crossing his arms across his chest. "Doesn't this seem odd to you?"

"No," he responded, thankfully turning away from Travis. "This was a plain old murder, bro."

"Oh, did you get that from the thousands of stab wounds, Sherlock?"

Travis sucked in a panicked breath and gaped at the suicidal detective, then at Esposito to look out for an attack. The way he was looking at the younger man made Travis think there would be a second murder, and that he would be the number one witness. Travis was new to the force but even he knew not to mess with Javier Esposito, he wasn't an idiot. Esposito was an army vet and could kill a guy in under a second, or so everyone had said when the detective had arrived on scene.

Widening his stance and giving a small roll to his shoulders, Esposito stared unnervingly at the walking dead man. "He stabbed our vic then high tailed it away before anyone could see. What does it matter if the rings are still there?"

The detective actually seemed pleased at being interrogated, completely missing Esposito's warning tone. "I'm glad you asked," he announced smugly. "Well, these rings aren't your run-of-the-mill jewelry, they're high end. Probably from-"

"Look at you," Esposito quipped under his breath.

"Hey, just because _some_ people don't have class, doesn't mean we're all doomed."

Travis felt his heart start to jump in his chest while Esposito narrowed his vivid brown eyes. "Are you comparing me to the killer, bro?"

"What? No, not at all," the younger detective replied blandly, a sigh buried in his tone.

Esposito turned back to Travis. "Do you believe this guy?"

Travis could have groaned out loud and restrained himself from taking a step back. He didn't want to be an accessory to murder. "Uh, uh well, I-"

"Of course he does," the blue-eyed man interjected, "he probably knows that if the killer went out of his way to dump the body, it just isn't right that he wouldn't take the rings. Rings, I might add, that have the killer's blood on them. It doesn't fit."

Esposito rolled his eyes. "Gee, Ryan, you may have just broke open the case. Why don't you run along and tell Beckett."

Ryan! That was the detective's name. Travis smiled at the new information and let out a relieved sigh. He found it strange that Esposito would use the detective's first name but if the two were partners, he figured it wasn't that much of a stretch. And that probably explained why Ryan didn't have a black eye yet.

"I already did," Ryan said, looking surprised at Esposito's suggestion. "_And_ she agrees with me, so ha."

The dark skinned detective narrowed his eyes and faked laughed. "Don't be cute. There's no way Beckett agrees with you, bro." Esposito was handed a wordless glare as he glanced past Travis to the other end of the street. His chin lifted and both Travis and Ryan turned to look at what the detective had spotted.

"Castle!" Ryan shouted out, immediately making a beeline for the approaching man. The smile on Richard Castle's face lit up the dark morning and he called a chipper greeting to the detective, drawing the gaze of Detective Beckett behind them. "Hey, get this!"

"Hey, hey!" Esposito called out, chasing after Ryan. "Castle, don't listen to him." They ambushed the writer, stopping his progress on the way to the crime scene. Esposito and Ryan began talking over each other, vying for the writer's attention. For his part, Castle appeared to be following easily.

Travis stared freely at the famous author. Everyone knew that he was working with the NYPD but seeing him at a crime scene, impeccably groomed and carrying two coffees was slightly surreal in the early hours of morning. Now that Esposito's attention was off Travis, he could have melted with relief and had the passing thought to read one of Castle's books as thanks. He wasn't much of a reader but thought that since the writer saved him from Esposito's wrath, it was the least he could do. Seizing his freedom, Travis high-tailed it to the closest lamp post where his partner waited. Ray greeted him with a grin, his eyes crinkling in amusement.

"Thanks," Travis quipped sarcastically.

"Hey, it's not my fault he sensed the fear," Ray replied.

"It was _not_ fear," he defended, pointing a finger at the older man.

"Sure," Ray commented with a light smirk growing on his lips.

A scowl settled onto Travis's face and he worked hard to keep the petulance out of his tone. "It wasn't," he maintained while sending a cautionary glance to where Esposito was standing with Ryan. Castle had escaped them and a quick look proved that he was handing Detective Beckett a large coffee with a cheesy flourish. But Esposito and Ryan were arguing in hushed tones, the darker skinned man looming disconcertingly over the other man. Behind him, Ray suggestively cleared his throat causing Travis to turn around and pretend he was not watching for a murder. Not even his partner with his super-sonic hearing heard Travis's sigh of relief when Ryan turned impatiently away from Esposito and headed toward the safety behind the caution tape.

"Ten bucks says the rings mean jack," he heard Esposito call as he chased after Ryan.

"Twenty," he said, stopping abruptly taking a competitive step forward.

A second did not have time to pass before Esposito and his partner were shaking hands. "You're on, bro."

"You're losing this time," Ryan told him before continuing back toward the body.

Esposito made a skeptical noise, which Travis could not decide was a snort or a huff. "Considering I already won ten bucks from you today, I don't think so."

Ryan replied but their voices were muffled by distance, though Travis distinctly heard a high pitched "Cheating!" before he could hear nothing else of their conversation. Then the two detectives met with Beckett and Castle and became obscured by the uniforms and CSUs milling about. Crisis averted, Travis turned back to his partner and crossed his arms. Ray looked up from fiddling with his now shut notebook and waited.

"Are they always like that?" Travis asked immediately, wondering if Detective Ryan deftly fended off death on a regular basis.

The look handed to him was depreciating and made Travis feel like he was a chubby five year old again. "Get used to it," Ray said unhelpfully, "this won't be your first body drop and those two are the least of your worries." Skeptical, Travis handed his partner a doubtful look. "No, just wait till you meet Detective Beckett..."

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**I hope you liked it! And that Ryan and Espo were in character. Please review and tell me what you thought :)**


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